ROTTERDAM, 7 April 2026 – Nearly 100 runners from Rotterdam will head to Greece this autumn to run the Athens Marathon, the centrepiece of a jubilee year marking 25 years of Rotterdam Running Ambassadors. The anniversary links Rotterdam’s own marathon culture to the race’s legendary origins, while also reflecting the club’s unusual mix of sport, business and city pride.
Caption: Rotterdam Running Ambassadors gather by the Maas with the Erasmus Bridge and Rotterdam skyline in view.
For a city that takes running seriously, this feels like a fitting way to mark a milestone. Rotterdam Running Ambassadors, often shortened to RRA, is celebrating its fifth lustrum in 2026 with a trip to Athens, where members will run the historic route associated with Pheidippides, the messenger whose story still sits at the heart of marathon mythology.
The choice of destination is no accident. Alongside the NN Marathon Rotterdam, the Athens Marathon, The Authentic forms part of a special anniversary year for the club, giving the group a symbolic return to where the marathon story began.
A Rotterdam network in running shoes
Rotterdam Running Ambassadors began with a simple idea: networking works differently when you are moving. Instead of drinks receptions or breakfast meetings, the concept was built around running together, with the belief that shared effort creates a different kind of connection.
More than two decades ago, the Municipality of Rotterdam, the Chamber of Commerce and the Port of Rotterdam Authority helped lay the foundations for the organisation. What emerged was not a standard business club, but a running club with two anchor marathons each year: one in Rotterdam and one in a city that matters to Rotterdam in an international sense.
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From Rotterdam to the world
Over the years, RRA members have run marathons in cities including Chicago, Shanghai, New York, Boston, Istanbul, Cape Town, Havana, Málaga, Lyon and Antwerp. The format has remained consistent: travel, run, connect and carry Rotterdam with you.
That mix of civic identity and professional exchange still defines the club. Members come from a wide range of backgrounds, including senior managers, doctors, entrepreneurs and public administrators, but the organisation presents running as the thing that levels the field.
Why the club still matters
According to chairman Karsten Uil, that equality is exactly what gives the group its strength. He said: “There is something cleansing about running gear: whether you are the chief executive of a multinational or running your own business, at training you are simply a runner.”
That creates a form of connection that can be hard to replicate elsewhere. For RRA, the value lies less in formal titles and more in the experience of training together, finishing together and sharing a clear affection for Rotterdam.
Athens as the anniversary highlight
In 2026, that shared experience will culminate in Athens, where close to 100 Rotterdam runners are expected to take on Athens Marathon, The Authentic. The race follows the historic route tied to the original marathon legend and finishes inside the Panathenaic Stadium, the marble stadium that hosted the first modern Olympic Games in 1896.
For Rotterdam, there is something neat about that pairing. One of Europe’s best-known city marathons now meets the race’s origin story, with a Rotterdam network carrying its anniversary year onto one of the most symbolically loaded courses in world running.
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A club built around Rotterdam
RRA describes itself as a marathon club for the Rotterdam region, with around 100 members from different professions and sectors. What unites them is the idea that, from their leadership roles or independent positions, they can contribute to the development and promotion of the city.
The Marathon Rotterdam remains the heart of the club. The challenge, the experience and the sense of finishing together are presented as the basis for respect, connection and friendship, giving the organisation a character that is part sports club, part business network and very clearly rooted in Rotterdam.
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